 Senator Amor, we had this bill last year, I believe, and would you like to go over it? I think it's a pretty self-explanatory bill, but if you would like to introduce it to us, that would be great. Yes, thank you very much for your opportunity. So I guess I'm considering continuing from Chippin County for the record, and indeed I did interest to spill last year. So basically, I mean, the bill itself was extremely straightforward. It removes Columbus Day as one of the state holidays, and inserts Indigenous Peoples Day instead, and that has been done three years in a row now by executive proclamation. It started with Governor Shumlin doing it, and then Governor Scott has done it two years in a row. So to put this in legislation would mean that the Governor Shumlin has to keep doing it year after year, which is going to be permanent. I just want to say the reason that I bring this forward and that it's important to me is I think that, well, there's been a movement since 1977 to try to make this change across the country, and various cities have done it. Those states really, Alaska has made a permanent switch, and South Dakota has done Native American Day. But the reason I think it's... Can I just... Did they do it on Columbus Day or did they do it separately? On Columbus Day. On Columbus Day. Yeah. Okay. The reason I think it's important is it represents Columbus Day as it is, represents the idea that my ancestors and many of ours, white European settlers came to this country, and they took the land away from the Native peoples who were already here. They exploited their labor. Sometimes they violently killed them outright. Other times they brought diseases that killed them over so period of time. They denigrated the indigenous peoples' customs and denigrated their spiritual practices. It's really a history of terrible disservice and cruelty to the Native peoples who were here. I think it's just really time for us to set the record straight. It's symbolic, obviously. It's not very involved and doesn't start programs and all that sort of thing. It changes the holiday. But symbols matter. We've seen that across the country. The Confederate war memorials in the south are symbols, but people have made a movement to put those in museums and try to be more inclusive in the public square. This is along the same lines. It's trying to recognize that the indigenous peoples who were here first have been ill-treated historically. It's a way for us to try to make amends symbolically and to give them their due. That's basically why I think it's important. I did prepare a little packet of information for you. Two very short articles. One is from a CNN reporter that explains how the Columbus Day holiday started. It would be helpful to change the name of it. This other one is from a historian associate professor of history in Illinois who talks about what you tell your child about Columbus. I think it's very balanced in terms of saying this is part of our history. It was what it was. Columbus isn't the most horrible person in the world, but he's had 500 years of being celebrated. Now we have new awarenesses and new realizations. It's time for us to embrace those and to make a change. I have a little question. I just wondered what the significance of choosing those words. I don't want to talk feeling I'm just curious. Yes. At the conference in 1977, the server kicked all this off. It was an international conference on discrimination against indigenous populations in the Americas. They suggested that they have solidarity with indigenous people. It's gotten shortened to indigenous people's day. That is the name that Alaska has given up. There's many, many cities that have also used that word. When Phil did this in September of last year, it's just a wall off. He says that he hasn't declared. He can't do it permanently. They've been doing this every year for three years. Governor Shumlin started it, and then Governor Scott has done it twice. They've done that on Columbus Day? That's right. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome to stay, but I know you have another committee. Thank you. Are we responsibilities? Yes, I love it. Well, they love it. You are an articulate advocate for this issue. I appreciate it. I'll see you later. Thank you. So we have Rich, and are you Robert White? Right. And are you going to testify? No, he has to fight for both of us. Oh, okay. You're here to listen. So we'll let you decide. We have Rich on the list first, but we'll let you decide how you want to proceed here. So the committee, the invitation is going to be here. She started by introducing myself in a better language. There's a different language on this slide. So I'll switch to English so we can all get on the same page. Thank you. Be helpful. Sure. I'm very happy to have you here. Let's stand by on the other side of the screen. And we go down. And we go to the other side. So my name is Rich from Browbro. It's good to be here with you, my friends. Thank you. So in English, my name is Rich Holschew. I serve on the Vermont Commission for Native American Affairs here in Vermont, created by statute 2010, revised statute, pointed by Governor Schumann at first. And in my second term, we do it by Governor Scott. I have a handout here that I sent to Gail, and I believe you have copies of it. I'm going to work my way through this and use it as a framework for talking points. And that's up on the website now. I'll be posted now, I believe so. We should have copies of this. It's an overview of Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day and the State of Vermont. Just two pages. Okay. Got it. I'm just realizing that is fine. But I'll work my way right through it. So H119 and actually related to Indigenous Peoples Day and S68, the one in which we are discussing today, of the same title are currently being considered in the respective chambers for the use of this session. As Senator England said, this is a copy of last year's last session's bill. The language in each is essentially identical, laying out the same reasoning behind the proposed action and its implementation. The language also closely follows the executive proclamations which have been alluded to in the past three years, made by Vermont's sitting governor, Governor Sean 1 in 2016, and repeated by Governor Phillips Scott in 17 and 18. I am the person that made those proclamation requests of the governor. I'm happy that they were honored. And as a matter of fact, I actually wrote the language. So the language you're seeing in the bill follows from those pretty much. So here we are in Vermont. I love this place. We like to consider ourselves a leader nationally for social equity, various movements that come along. We're not always a leader, but we often are. We are not alone in considering this change as Senator Ingra mentioned. Over 60 cities and towns nationwide have already taken this step. It started with Berkeley, California in 1992. Berkeley was mentioned earlier. Santa Cruz and LA, among others, have followed in California. Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Nashville. Here in New England, Indigenous Peoples' Day. On the second Monday in October. Also known as Columbus Day. Has been declared on a permanent basis in Bangor, Orano, and Portland, Maine. Cambridge, Amherst, Northampton, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Durham, New Hampshire, last year. Bridgeport, West Hartford, and Connecticut. And in Vermont, three towns have already taken this step forward. Marlboro, Brattleboro, the town where I come from. And Hartford. Several other states, including Oregon, North Carolina, and Iowa have also had governor's proclamations made, which had an effect for one year. The newspapers will often report this erroneously. They have said that those states have made the change. Most national newspapers are now saying that Vermont has made the change permanently. They just didn't read the fine print. But we can work toward that. And I will make the case that no one state in this country has actually done what we are proposing to do. Change to Columbus Day on the second Monday of October. To Indigenous People's Day. Nobody has done that yet. However, there are bills in the legislatures of Montana, New Mexico, and Maine right now, just as this one is. It's not a contest, but it's always nice to be a leader. For a good cause. Alaska never did observe Columbus Day. But they haven't did Indigenous People's Day now. Hawaii never observed Columbus Day. It doesn't mean much to them. They do observe Discoverers Day on the second Monday in October. And that's not for Captain Cook. They're a bad guy. It's for the Polynesian explorers that came there. It started with this Alaska dude. Does it do anything? They had Indigenous People's Day as of last year. Oh, so they are the first state to do it. They never had Columbus Day. Oh, they never... It's not the same symbolic change. Got it. Technicalities, but... They have a smaller Italian population. There's any number of factors. And a very high native percentage. Right. I want to address Columbus Day. That's very much part of this conversation. What's that all about? How did that come to be? It is a state holiday here in Vermont. Only about half of the rest of the states in the country observe Columbus Day. It's not universal. It is a federal holiday. It's not universal on a state holiday. So Columbus landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. Now we're set for it. But that's the anniversary that we look at. It was at first observed as a patriotic holiday. Columbus was just the token name on it. It was not a celebration of Columbus. It was basically another Fourth of July. A national celebration. Observing national progress. Discovery manifest destiny. Struggle against great odds. That kind of a thing. It began to become associated with the Italian-American community because Columbus himself was an Italian although he sailed for Spain around the turn of the last century. So Colorado was the first state to recognize it in 1907. Several other states followed suit including Vermont. I was not able to get into a copy of the Green Books to find out exactly when Vermont adopted that. It's not in the online version. How interesting. But probably sometimes shortly after 1900. On a federal basis after heavy lobbying from the Knights of Columbus, Roman Catholic, Italian-American fraternal organization, FDR in Congress, did make a federal holiday. October 12th, the anniversary of Columbus' landing in 1937. It was moved in 1971 through the Monday Holiday Act with a bunch of other holidays to the 2nd Monday of October and that's where it sits right now. That's what we're talking about. So, there's your mechanics. There's how we got here. I'm not going to dig into Columbus the man a whole lot. I will say that I personally feel that celebrating personalities and putting them on a pedestal is usually setting yourself up for a fall. We see that often. There's a lot of it going on right now. It's good President's weekend. It's just now President's weekend. Yeah. It's not about people. We're all human. We have our frailties. Nobody is perfect, but we aspire to do better. That's why I'm talking about this. Columbus is a part of this story. I do not feel that Columbus should be removed from the story. He's very much a part of the story. This happens everywhere, not just here, all over the world. This is why it's about Indigenous Peoples Day. Plural. Possessive. It's not just a Beniki Day. It's not just Native American Day. It's Indigenous Peoples Day. So, by exploring a more complete narrative with the inclusion of all the voices involved, most of them have been left out. This is about completing the history, not erasing the history. We can listen, understand, and resolve to do better. Columbus is a part of the story, but we do know now that he was not the idealistic, magnanimous, inspirational figure that we were all told years ago. My own education included. I got there. He's not the one to be set on a pedestal and honored for his great and often fictional accomplishments. We can learn these things. The heroic myth was created in service, I'm speaking from a Native perspective here, to a set of divisive ideologies of separation and entitlement by one group over another, which left those outside of its walls denied, dispossessed, and within. This is the truth. Not to be ignored is the fact that a version of this attitude has played out all over the planet. The Indigenous people of each place met the receiving end of exploitation, disenfranchisement, and dismissal, paying the ultimate price, usually. We're human, we haven't changed much. This is why we learned the lessons of history. We should work to honor and celebrate the resilience of the human spirit, its creativity, its persistence, and its adaptability. There's a lot to be done and there's a lot to be undone. It's part of the balancing process. It's about balance. In order to provide for the future generations the ones that are going to inherit this earth. I take this as a mutual responsibility. I take this very seriously. This is not just a pet project. I kind of have to do this for what is to come. And for those who have been to honor our ancestors. So, I think that is a way of stating the charge of yourselves as elected legislators responsibility to the community to look out for their well-being and consideration and support. I appreciate it now. Good to see you, Leonie. I offer you my great thanks for listening. I would be happy to entertain any questions that you might have. I see my role here as a bridge builder, as a reconnector and without a relationship. We are all brothers and sisters. You are all my relatives. In a very real way. We're all related. And we're all in this together. So, separation and splitting things apart. I don't see it as a helpful thing. I want to bring them back together. Sorry, that was meant for you. Somebody called here. So, any questions I can answer for you? I don't have any questions about what you said. What you said was good. It's about being more honest about our history and our culture. I'm more curious about the effort that was made last year to make this change. Were you involved in that effort? The reason why I'm wondering what the opponents were. Who slowed down this process? How did that happen? I was involved in the proclamation effort with the governor. As far as legislation, my understanding is that there were bills in both the house and the senate last year just as they are this year. And that they made it into committee and that's where they stopped. And I don't know if that was because of workload, timing, attention. I don't know. I think that I would say that the atmosphere the general atmosphere has tilted in this direction with the action of standing rock raising a native situation higher in the public eye. And I think with the governor having done this three years in a row and Vermont still able to be a leader but everyone else is already going there. This is the time. The governor clearly didn't experience much pushback when he did proclamations. I didn't hear anybody complain about it. As a matter of fact, it got a lot of national press. What? Well, it changed their time. It does. Don't get mad. Get even. Can you read it? Yes, keep calm and lead. That's what I try to do. And with a smile too. Calm and smile. You can ask my wife why don't you ever get angry? What's the point of that? So, I mean the barriers to in other states have made this effort and hasn't yet happened. Is it just that people are wedded to this myth that is it the Italian-American community? We haven't seen the Italian-American community jump up and down with the proclamation. It's now three years four years in a row. It started in 16. So, it's not like it's had a huge there's been no pushback. I haven't read any, but for me I am one of the sponsors of this bill and actually I think listening to you to me I'm feeling much more engaged in this effort this year. I just think that completing history is a wonderful point. We're not erasing history. It's like what we're dealing with with our constitutional amendments. Things have to be living and have meaning for the living. And I think the meaning for the living here for me would tend the arc of history for me bends toward doing this now. And I would say who is this holiday for? It is for the living and in that regard I would say that it's time for us to do this. I would agree that it's probably about timing. That's why this is happening now. It's the time change comes slowly and it hasn't been time, but now it's closer to that time. In terms of why why this is a holiday and that being for the people present today's people there is occasionally some pushback. I haven't personally heard it from the Italian American community who see this as a holiday celebrating one of their own. I understand that people are proud of who they are understanding. I would submit basically that no other nationality has a holiday for themselves. What do you think St. Patrick's Day is? It's not official. That was my next sentence. If you're Irish you celebrate St. Patrick's Day. If you're Norwegian you celebrate this day. St. Canoe's Day. There is such a thing there is such a thing and I think I think it's celebrated in Minnesota. In Scottish there are tons. They are holidays. They are holidays. In Italian we always celebrate things like the Feast of St. Genera and there's a bunch of different feasts that Italians consider them religious. I just thought they were Italian holidays. Every guest is an Italian holiday. I think that in the way it became it was declared a federal holiday but it became a state holiday for state employees from on state employees. I mean getting it into because it definitely enters into labour negotiations. That's for sure. I would suggest that indigenous people say as opposed to being a moralizing in particular person epitomizes something similar to what Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday in that stands as an icon for civil rights something that this country recognized that it needed to deal with and continues to deal with that is what that is about this country reckoning with its history and wanting to do better. Indigenous people say it's exactly the same thing. We are recognizing our history and realizing that we should do better. That's how I place this holiday. One last thought. I just think indigenous peoples the plurality of it is very useful because we have this. There were never any Indians in Vermont. That's what they taught in the schools. Until the last few decades. It's right in the history books I can show too. So yeah. Thank you. Mr. Wright. So thank you very much for the opportunity to come in and give this a testimony. So I will essentially introduce myself. I'm Robert Wright. I'm the Vermont resident. Now I'm the important life-long Vermont resident for at least fifth generation from the inside Vermont resident. So yeah. Right to Vermont. I know we can do that. A number of things including that. So I've given a copy of the testimony most of which Sylvia, my partner, and Sylvia Knight, my partner has written. And we will have I could quickly read through one of the things that I would mention is that we both are members of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont and our vision and others have taught us about dignity as being part of the Jesus movie. Our diocese is engaged in a process of trying to heal from the infection of racism which undermines dignity in the community. Our parish in Burlington is planning a series on dismantling racism celebrating Indigenous People's Day in which we certainly support as the alternative of what you just mentioned. That can help us honor the dignity of Indigenous Peoples who still live here in Vermont and in the U.S. Frankly, we find it shameful to continue celebrating and honoring a man who denied dignity to the people we encountered in the Americas and bringing violence, disease and exploitation and we are allies of the Migrant Justice Organization in Vermont. We are working to uphold dignity in human rights and immigrants here in Vermont many of whom were fleeing long-term effects of U.S. and Canadian exploitation of their land and people in Mexico. The Chapa State in Mexico is the homeland of many farm workers in Vermont and it's a place where Native people have lived on the land for centuries but have struggled since the 20th century because of economic and political factors including NAFTA. Native peoples in Chapa's rose up against oppression in 1994 and began to develop community structures as alternatives to the external domination and rezoning poverty. Celebrating indigenous peoples being could honor our Mexican and Guatemalan immigrant neighbors and honor their dignity and contributions to our Spain country rather than honoring a cruel and greedy man who persecuted their ancestors centuries ago. So let's not continue this travesty. We're members of the Vermont racial justice alliance and we're working to dismantle the implicit bias and systemic racism that infect the whole society in Vermont and San Diego. We feel it deeply that it's time to align our holidays with our aspirations and positive values and we must remove the name of Columbus and transform the date to a time of honoring and rooting for indigenous people, our neighbors who live here. This photo has 68 out of committing before crossover with a positive recommendation for the passage. Thank you very much for the time this week. Thank you for this. So while you were talking, I had this thought and I it isn't formed so it might come out sounding really stupid but so we are a nation made up of people who are here and people who came. And do we also have an immigrant day acknowledging the fact that we are I mean should we have a day that acknowledges that we are all with people who are here but the rest of us came, however we came, we came from someplace else so we're immigrants and do we I mean I don't know how this was forming but when you were talking about the migrant justice the people who are here that migrant justice is working really hard for our undocumented dairy workers not indigenous people, they are immigrants do we actually but they are indigenous they are not indigenous to Vermont they're that's the nice thing about indigenous people no, my understanding of this is that we would be acknowledging indigenous peoples in Vermont we can't acknowledge indigenous people in Central America I mean am I missing something here actually I think that since we're in this statement we did suggest that what they do is to honor indigenous peoples in the U.S. as well as my understanding is it's not in honoring indigenous peoples from yes it honors the recognized tribes in Vermont but it also it's I don't think I don't think it's a right you know I hear what you're saying I mean it's a right or wrong I think it depends on how you interpret it I can see it being there's a reason to believe we're talking about indigenous from others but there's also a reason to think it might be for the nation frankly I think it could be for the world everywhere you go there are indigenous people who need to be respected because of their heritage and their culture and ties I agree with that I think you can see me in the way I agree with that so in three it says the general assembly recognizes the values the historic cultural and contemporary significance of the indigenous peoples but later became known as the Americas that's North and South America which includes we are a piece of it but I like Anthony sort of feel that this is for all indigenous people which would include those who migrated here and those who migrated here and those who migrated here because they were not indigenous here does not include anyway my understanding is this includes indigenous people all over including Vermont that would be my understanding okay so my ancestors were indigenous to North, well they were probably those terrible Vikings is what they were but some of them were but you celebrated too because you were indigenous well they weren't indigenous and they weren't indigenous to the U.S no they weren't they were indigenous but they were indigenous someplace certain parts black women if you respect indigenous people you wouldn't have the U.S. invading Nicaragua or El Salvador trying to like piss around with people sorry these are cultural politics it just was an aspect of it that I had never done on me that I just okay that's why we're here yeah that's right yeah I know before you do yeah I have to apologize and ask your indulgence I have to be in wait for over an hour so I have to go feed the meter in a little while it's just going to take us a few more minutes but he has to leave because he has to reverie a hockey game okay Brian good luck don't get hit again so Rich you were about to comment on it yeah if I could just speak to what you're saying I find the language in the bill to be inclusive it allows for it to be as open as you want it to be I I mentioned earlier the actions of which Columbus is an exemplar are not limited to Columbus and to the people of this continent that happens everywhere indigenous people in Ireland were were smashed oh boy by the British Empire it happens everywhere where there is colonialism going on so that however we're in Vermont and so this would be an action taken by Vermont and to be applied here first I own the state majority begins at home I have to start here I start in battle row I'm the one that lobbied this through battle row I know as you know and Marlboro beat us to the punch by three weeks because they're small and nimble but yes we work together on that and now I'm hoping that you folks will consider this as well on a statewide basis and then who knows where it goes from there it's already moving elsewhere so it allows for it to be as big as you want it to be but love your neighbor first that's how I look at it it puts a whole new light on it for me I mean I had not I had not thought about it that way at all about we're recognizing the indigenous people in Vermont I had not thought about it at all in terms of acknowledging indigenous people the world over and yes what can this committee do to advocate for this bill to help move it other than vote for yourself but can you advocate for it outside of this committee so that something happens this year that we get it passed and then how can we help you I think that my feeling is that we probably would not bring into the floor unless we thought we had 16 votes because you do not want to bring it to the floor and have it defeated we have to find out which senators to get the 16 votes because in my opinion and I may be wrong here but it would be worse to bring it to the floor and have it defeated but the first thing is we have to pass it here out and the five of us have to pass it and that will signal to the body to the senate and also to the house but first to the senate that we support this value and this change if you have somebody that has it besides this gentleman who is the other person Chris Bray from Addison I believe he supports it he is one of the sponsors I believe and we have not talked about it in this committee yet we had a conversation about support or non support Anthony Flynn on this committee Anthony Flynn and I signed on the supporters but Chris I don't know how Chris is he wasn't on the committee last year when we took it out the thing is if this committee supports it and we bring it to the senate floor and it fails then it's hard to bring it up again next year if we thought we needed more time we could choose not to vote it out now we could wait until next session to build support and pass it next year so we need to get support for it and get people and all their senators yeah we are just asked I love the fact I am also a big fan of Tommy and the diocese of I don't know Woodstock but I remember and I had forgotten that we had that charge this year of dismantling racism a good example for that effort Maurice Perez is working on a lot of material thanks for the wrong idea you're welcome so I think the thing to do is to make sure where are you from again so you have six senators or pretty much on board so you have six senators that are on board yeah I think they sell their names in the list of sponsors no they're actually only I don't think you would have a villain I just want to tell you I don't want to pay an extra hundred bucks okay no no you do not want to we will do this conversation we'll let you know when what we're taking it up again okay you know what we're doing no I don't know when I would like to know when the best thing to do is to she has your contact info and we'll but also just watch the calendar because the week we come back it's going to be chaotic and things might change day to day so this is your last week before the break and then we come back and that's our last week before crossover because 15th is the deadline and if I could just say to keep checking our committee page because we have many many many people who come into this room since we covered such a broad range of topics so please pay attention to the agenda and if I can I'll reach out to you but please don't just pay on me thank you I check the calendar every day